20,000 'red' bricks in one month

[Rituu B. Nanda]

During the Global Learning Festival- day two i.e. 2nd Oct, we went live with a youth group in Eastern Kenya- Aun, Autry, Bhakynti, Bono, Joseph, Ornella, Sylvereen, Wiwin, Widah and Rituu

How the group was set up

The local church and SALT facilitators encouraged setting up of a village youth group. This consists of young boys and girls and also some children.What motivates them is the needs of the community. For instance during the COVID-19 pandemic they started SALT visits to homes of older women to support them.

Community needs bricks! They felt that the community required bricks. So they suggested to the older people that the youth will make bricks which will also get them some income and they will not waste their time idling around. Where did you learn how to make bricks we asked them. We learned from our parents and also from the internet. They have acquired the skill of making bricks. They gave us tips on making bricks. Dig the soil, make bricks, dry them and then bake them.Baking is what gives the nice red colour to the bricks explained the youth leader, Florence. 

Youth got together and made bricks- It was hard physical labour so boys focused on making bricks while the girls cooked for them. We learned how to make chapatis said Florence. And voila in a month they made 20,000 bricks! 

What will they do with the bricks? The bricks will be used for construction of toilets in the community, building the compound wall in the village and so on.

My takeaways

• This is a youth-determined solution and not decided by the organisation. So the youth own it and are so proud of their work
• They are learning by doing
• They use online resources meaningfully
• They are not self-centred, they care for their community
• They link the older people and the children

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Responses to Florence

Luc BARRIERE CONSTANTIN 
From Florence: « An idled mind is the devil’s workshop !!!» Great!

kausar S Khan 
very inspiring... I will ask our neighborhood community to engage with the youth and encourage them to form their own group and see what they can make our neighborhood a flourishing neighborhood.

Jean-Louis LAMBORAY t
Bravo Florence! Here in Belgium we have the tendency to wait for public authoritues to solve all our issues… You and the young people started with their own strengths!
their =>your

Rituu 
To change the community it starts from us- Florence


Loli 
Congratulations Florence. Here in France we don’t take action because we expected that public authorities solve our issues.

Jean-Louis LAMBORAY 
to change the community starts from us: the sparkplug?

CyrilPervilhac 
Thanks Florence for all the explanations: inspiring in times of COVID-19 and engage the young people.

kausar S Khan 
Jean Louis, here in Pakistan we have a story that a neighborhood was in the habit of replacing the bulb from the street light whenever it went off. then came the city authority and said, 'this is our work.. we shall do it'. neighborhood was happy. for sometime the Authorities changed the fused bulb, and then the stopped. and now the neighborhood waits in the darkness for the authority to change the fused bulb

Ranganayaki T 
Love what Flo is sharing -- Drawing on each others' strengths, for personal development and aspirations. Discovering your own strength which makes you stronger as an individual. The flow of strength from self to community and community to self is wonderful

[Rituu B. Nanda]

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Of course Jan. I request you to share the source of the quote/photo https://aidscompetence.ning.com/profiles/blogs/20-000-red-bricks-in...

Thanks.

[Jan Somers]

Rituu, great blog on the inspiring youth group. Can I quote and share a picture from your post on the upcoming webinar on neighbourhoods?